The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation Awards NEOMED the Largest Foundation Grant in the University’s History

The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation announced its decision to award a $5.5 million grant to the Best Practices in Schizophrenia Treatment (BeST) Center at Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) at “The BeST Kind of Hope,” a special event held on NEOMED’s campus this morning. Patrick Kennedy II, former U.S. Congressman and a leading advocate for mental health care, was a guest speaker for this historic grant announcement at NEOMED.

“Our grant will enable the BeST Center to continue to work with mental health consumers, family members, policy makers and partner organizations to offer training, consultation, evaluation, education and outreach activities leading to state-of-the-art care for people affected by schizophrenia and their families,” said Rick Kellar, president of the Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation. “This grant to the BeST Center furthers The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation’s mission to improve the lives of people with serious mental illness by investing in innovative projects in Northeast Ohio having national transformational impact.”

“This is a momentous day for NEOMED,” said Jay A. Gershen, D.D.S., Ph.D., president of NEOMED. “This grant reflects The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation’s continuing vision, leadership and generosity, and it is the largest foundation grant in the University’s history.”

As the featured speaker, Congressman Kennedy discussed his passion for mental health care. Congressman Kennedy served 16 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and is predominantly known as the author and lead sponsor of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. This dramatic piece of legislation provides tens of millions of Americans who were previously denied care with access to mental health treatment. Congressman Kennedy is also the co-founder of One Mind for Research, a newly formed national coalition that is seeking new treatments and cures for neurologic and psychiatric diseases of the brain that afflict one in every three Americans.

The BeST Center was originally created in NEOMED’s Department of Psychiatry through a $5 million grant from The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation in February 2009. Since 2005, The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation has awarded a cumulative total of $12.9 million to NEOMED’s Department of Psychiatry to support initiatives to advance mental health treatment for individuals with schizophrenia and other mental disorders. The BeST Center works with community partners to give people affected by schizophrenia access to effective treatments.

“With the right treatment, people with schizophrenia can and do improve their lives, and they can work toward the future with a sense of hope,” said Mark R. Munetz, M.D., The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation Endowed Chair of Psychiatry at NEOMED. “At the BeST Center, we call this hope the BeST kind of hope. Because of The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation’s continued support, we can bring more of the BeST kind of hope to people affected by schizophrenia and achieve our shared goal of improving the lives of people with schizophrenia in transformative ways.”

About The Margaret Clark Morgan FoundationThe Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation, founded in 2001, is a private grantmaking foundation whose primary focus is the mental health field, with secondary interest in education and the arts. The mission is to improve the lives of people with serious mental illness by investing in innovative projects in Northeast Ohio having national transformational impact. For information, please visit www.mcmfdn.org, call 330.655.1366 or email inquiry@mcmfdn.org.

About Northeast Ohio Medical UniversityNortheast Ohio Medical University is a community-based, public medical university with a mission to improve the quality of health care in Northeast Ohio working in collaboration with its educational and clinical partners. With a focus on scientific and medical research, and the interprofessional training of health professionals that is unique to the state of Ohio, the University offers a doctor of medicine (M.D.) and a doctor of pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree, in addition to graduate-level coursework and research opportunities leading to master’s and doctoral degrees in other medical areas. Northeast Ohio Medical University is a founding member of the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron. Visit www.neomed.edu.

About the BeST Center at NEOMEDThe mission of the Best Practices in Schizophrenia Treatment (BeST) Center is to promote recovery and improve the lives of as many people with schizophrenia as possible by accelerating the adoption of evidence-based and promising practices. The BeST Center works with mental health consumers, family members, expert consultants, policy makers and clinical partners to offer training, consultation, evaluation, education and outreach activities to build the capacity of local systems to provide state-of-the-art care. The BeST Center was established in the Department of Psychiatry at Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) through a generous grant from The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation in 2009. To learn more, please visit www.neomed.edu/bestcenter.

Northeast Ohio Medical University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, disability, age, religion, or veteran/military status in its programs and activities.